Darkness Captured: A Novel

by Delilah Devlin

  A soft sob caught her unaware. The picture that filled her mind was of golden sunlight in a copse, her in wolfskin, cubs suckling her breasts while Guntram kept watch. A sublime image, empty of all her fears.

  Even now, tethered to this bench, knowing he would take her whether she gave him the words to grant him that right or not, didn’t feel in the least like that other time that haunted her nightmares.

  Guntram had indeed earned the right to her body, to her future. He’d earned her trust. But did he love her? She didn’t think she could bear to mate herself to him if he felt compelled only by duty.

  But she was woman as well as a wolf. And she knew a woman could wield power over the strongest man by her wits and femininity. If he didn’t love her now, she would find the key to his heart.

  “You know I won’t say it,” she said, her voice wavering.

  “Say what, princess?”

  “That I surrender.”

  “I’d be disappointed in you if you did.”

  She almost smiled at the wry note in his tone. “Know this, if I were free, I’d give you a fight you’d never forget.”

  “Are you trying to tempt me to free you?”

  “Does it turn you on? Imagining me battling you?”

  “I think it arouses you, Princess,” he said, thrusting a finger inside her.

  “You keep calling me that when you would be my prince.”

  “I’m not anything more than I’ve ever been.”

  “A warrior? It’s all I ever wanted from you, steel and muscle.”

  “You’ll still have that, but I promise so much more.”

  Gabriella slumped against the platform, her arguments drying up. He’d addressed all her fears to her satisfaction. Now, her mind was consumed with thoughts of gaining satisfaction of another sort. “Irkalla will finish with him soon,” she said, reminding him there were others outside this cell. “If I can’t talk you out of this, you should get on with it.”

  “I’ve been cautioned not to ask your pleasure.”

  “Seems you and Alex have gotten a little cozy,” she said, feeling disgruntled at the thought the two men had discussed her proclivities.

  “Never.”

  “Good, because I intend to kill him.”

  “Not without me at your back.”

  She smiled full-blown at that. Male wolves tended to push mated females behind them, heading into battle without them. Perhaps accepting him wouldn’t be the horrid demotion she’d expected.

  “Get on with it,” she repeated, summoning her most imperious tone. Let the game begin.

  Soft laughter gusted over her backside. A rare occurrence with Guntram, and something she knew she would savor and try to entice more of in the future. If they had one together.

  Teeth sank gently into her bottom, scraping downward. Lips surrounded her labia and suckled. Her clit was rubbed, plucked, squeezed—and her back arched, her shoulders rising as far as her restraints would allow.

  Still, she withheld the moan clawing for release at the back of her throat. She wouldn’t give it to him, would fight within her power to resist—just as a reminder that she would never truly submit everything she was to his domination.

  “It’s all right, you know,” he whispered. “To let go with me. I promise I’m strong enough to allow you the freedom to be yourself, always.”

  Her body vibrated as fingers sank into her vagina, swirling to encourage the honey to flow, and her pussy responded eagerly, wetting his hand and her thighs.

  More rustling sounded, higher this time, and she knew he stood behind her. A zipper rasped. An agonized groan escaped him, and then his hands came down to grip the bench beside her hips and the platform creaked as he climbed on.

  “I would have taken my time,” he said, his voice tightening, “I would have stroked your flesh until it was red, teased your cunt until you begged—but there isn’t time.” The blunt end of his cock bumped against her sex, found her center, and rushed inside.

  Gabriella’s breath left in a strangled groan. Guntram more than filled the aching void inside her, cramming his thick cock inward, stretching her walls as he worked his way inside.

  Her gasps grew ragged, and her heartbeats pounded against her chest. Her womb tightened as her sex clasped around him to pull him deeper.

  Already she could feel his cock lengthening, the crown swelling as it surged toward her womb. The swollen head stroked over the bundle of nerves finger-length deep inside her vagina, causing sexy jolts of arousal to spark and simmer before gliding past and sinking deeper.

  She whimpered, knowing instinctually and intellectually what was coming, but for all the years she’d existed, she’d never experienced a wolf’s penetration, never known the “lover’s knot.”

  Her body knew what to do, melting around him, caressing up and down his shaft in rolling waves as muscles spasmed and relaxed rhythmically to encourage his cock to glide deeper.

  When Guntram was finally surging against her cervix, her pussy contracted around him, milking him. His knot swelled larger, the pressure, even without movement, enough to keep her on the verge of a powerful orgasm.

  “Guntram,” she whimpered, as semen began to spurt in warm, intermittent streams inside her.

  Still he moved against her, pounding his belly and groin against her body, the moist slaps growing louder, her cries at last clawing their way past her throat to accompany the sounds of his deep, throaty growls.

  Finally, he lowered his elbows to the platform, his back covering hers. “It’s done,” he said, his voice rasping. “With my seed, I plant our future. In return for your submission to me, I offer you my life, my protection, my love.”

  Gabriella closed her eyes at his formal vow, surprised he used the words. Traditions weren’t something he’d ever embraced strongly, proving it by serving a female for all these years and appearing to be content with his role.

  But the words soothed her, filling her with hope, with a sense of connection she’d never felt with another creature. Not even Alex. Alex had fought her, subdued her, seduced her, but never really held her heart.

  She knew that now, because her thoughts in these past days had clung always to the hope Guntram embodied.

  “You don’t have to say the words, Princess,” he said softly. “I don’t expect them to be returned.”

  “You should want more,” she said, fighting tears. “You should demand more of a mate.”

  “I want only what you will give me.”

  “I didn’t give you this.”

  “This was necessary. Besides, I don’t think I could have simply played with your body and let you walk away. Not after knowing this pleasure.”

  His lips trailed along the back of her neck and Gabriella sighed. “We haven’t much time. Any chance you’re emptied yet?”

  A laugh pushed her deeper against the bench. “Emptied? Isn’t this moment one all females yearn to wallow in?”

  His nose nuzzled the top of her shoulder, and Gabriella quivered. Would he bite?

  Instead, his lips continued to trail along her skin.

  “I’m not a romantic,” she said. “Neither are you.”

  “I would try … if it would make you happy.”

  Gabriella smiled, ducking her head out of his reach so that he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of it. “Guntram, don’t you know the only thing that will make me truly happy is getting the hell out of here?”

  “Almost done,” he said, gasping. Indeed, the spurts had slowed. The knot was lessening.

  If she were honest with herself and with him, she’d admit disappointment that their connection was ending.

  “If we were home, I wouldn’t let you leave the bed for the entirety of your heat.”

  “Who says I’d allow you to keep me pinned to the bed?”

  “Think you will be able to resist now that you know what it can be like?”

  With her orgasm fading and all her problems rushing back in to choke her, she clamped down her despair. Footsteps
drew near. “Better start acting the part, Guntram. We’re about to get company.”

  Guntram pulled out of her and eased off the platform. His zipper scraped.

  Laughter preceded the arrival of two men, both humanlike in appearance—both naked with their cocks sprung and their arms slung around each other’s shoulders.

  The dark-haired male eyed Guntram. “When will you be done with her?” he said, his gaze lowering to her breasts.

  “Do you have need of this room?” Guntram asked, his voice taut as his body.

  The male’s eyebrows rose. “I think we have need of you,” he said, his gaze gliding now over Guntram and sliding lower.

  Gabriella knew he had to be eyeing Guntram’s crotch, and she nearly lost it. Although she couldn’t turn to see for herself, she knew Guntram’s face was heating.

  A low growl emanated from her mate.

  The two men stepped back, eyes widening. “We can have you whether you consent or not,” the dark-haired one sputtered. “You are here for our pleasure.”

  “The Master arranged for her pleasure,” Guntram said softly.

  The other male sucked in a quick breath and turned to whisper to his companion.

  Both offered tight smiles and backed away from the cell door.

  Guntram snorted behind her.

  “How did you know that would work?” Gabriella asked.

  “Instinct. Only the most powerful of demons could manage to hold you.”

  Oddly pleased with his comment, she wriggled on the bench, tugging at the bindings on her wrists. “Can you let me out of these things now?”

  “I wouldn’t want anyone to think I didn’t take my job seriously.”

  “Wha—?”

  Leather cracked in the air above her. “A whip?” she said, incredulous. “You’re going to whip me?”

  “Don’t you think you deserve it?”

  Leather slapped one buttock, not as sharply as she expected, but stinging just the same. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. It was an accident, my getting pulled into this hellhole.”

  Another crack landed on the opposite buttock, and she winced.

  “First, you had no business volunteering as an emissary to the vampires.”

  “I’m female, they’re matriarchal. It made sense. Even our own clan council thought so.”

  Again, the leather landed, this time lashing the back of one thigh. “You had no business entering into their coup—it wasn’t your battle.”

  The quiet anger tightening his voice was tightening parts of her anatomy she wished didn’t like the punishment quite so much. Arousal stirred again. Guntram had never questioned her before, never rebuked her for a single decision. Now that he’d mated her, was that all about to change?

  Another sharp thwack stung her ass. “You put yourself in danger, out of your pack’s reach, while we scrambled to figure out what the hell had happened.”

  The leather whip cracked, this time stinging so hard she knew she’d have a welt, but damn, her sex was moistening, ripening, fluid wetting her folds. Again it landed, but this time remained draped over her hip.

  His breaths were harsh, his hand, when he smoothed it over her stinging parts, shook.

  Gabriella’s eyes filled. She’d known he cared for her, but she’d only ever thought about her needs, her desires. That she’d made him suffer hurt a part of her that she thought had turned cold and shriveled.

  Her heart ached, imagining his fear and desperation as he’d entered the enemy’s lair and agreed to cross into another realm to find her.

  “Let me loose,” she whispered.

  This time he heeded her request, unbuckling the restraints at her wrists. When she straightened and climbed off the platform, she rubbed her wrists, keeping her head down because she needed a moment to compose herself.

  Guntram had taken her for his mate. Not asked. To offer him an apology, to let him see her sorrow—well, he might think she loved him. And that couldn’t happen, not if she wanted to keep on an even standing with an alpha male.

  Drawing a deep breath, she raised her head and shook back her hair.

  Guntram’s throat worked as he swallowed, but his chin lifted, his lips thinned.

  Gabriella stepped toward him, crowding against him with her naked breasts pressed to his chest, forcing him backward until his back met the wall. “I did exactly as I wanted. Your duty was to follow me.”

  Guntram’s indrawn breath lifted his chest; the thick hair cloaking it abraded her nipples. She rubbed against him, deliberately.

  His eyelids drifted down until he watched her through narrowed slits.

  “Guntram?” she said, her inflection still hard.

  “Yes, mistress,” he replied, his posture unbending.

  “I want you.”

  CHAPTER

  14

  Freed by her command, Guntram moved fast, snaking his arms around her waist and turning to press her against the rock wall at the back of the cell. With his body shielding her identity, he hoped for a few moments more to lose himself inside her.

  Stroking her pale flesh with the whip had had a startling affect on him. His passion had crept higher with each lash, knowing she writhed and wriggled, not to escape the whip, but because her body yearned for the punishment.

  Her passion needed pain to creep past her tightly held emotions and release the warm, passionate creature inside her.

  Alex had been right. Damn him.

  Guntram grabbed her wrists and pulled them upward, then clasped them inside one steely grip to stretch them high. Then he reached between them and opened his pants, pulling out his cock.

  Before he’d drawn his hand away, one long leg rose to ride the crest of his hip. When his gaze locked with hers, her expression hardened, and the arch of her eyebrows had every red corpuscle in his body surging south to meet her silent challenge.

  He growled deep inside his throat. “I don’t mind that every time we fuck you’ll offer me a battle.”

  Gabriella blinked. Then her eyes narrowed. “Do you think I care what you want?”

  “Princess, you’ll care whether I let you come.”

  Her mouth opened, then snapped shut. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Not on our wedding night. But keep it in mind. Now, be quiet.” Rather than let her have the last word, he swooped down and kissed her. Hard. His lips slamming against her tightly closed mouth. Then he opened his mouth and stroked the seam with his tongue while bracing apart his feet and rooting his cock between her legs.

  A low, trembling growl rattled at the back of her throat.

  He lifted his mouth from hers, hovering just above her pouting lips. “If we wore wolfskin, I’d latch onto your fur with my teeth and bite down until you howled.”

  Anger and desire warred in her golden brown eyes. She opened her mouth, no doubt to issue a sarcastic jab, but he didn’t give her the chance, covering her mouth again and sliding his tongue inside.

  Her teeth closed around his tongue, and he waited while satisfaction and humor glinted in her eyes. But he bent his knees and surged upward, spearing into her, and her teeth freed him as she gasped for air.

  “Guntram!”

  How he’d longed to hear her say his name, exactly like that, breathlessly, with the slightest hint of a whimper. “It’s all right. Everything will be all right. I swear it.”

  “Fuck me. Fuck me quickly before he comes.”

  Guntram laid his forehead against her and gritted his teeth. “Don’t say his name. Don’t remind me. I don’t want him between us now.”

  “Guntram. Please.”

  He drove into her, ramming her against the wall with the force of his strokes, but she didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she lifted her other leg and clasped her ankles behind his back.

  He dropped her hands and reached down to cup her bottom, squeezing the softness overspilling his hands. His head dropped to her shoulder as he rutted against her, as he sank again and again in her heat.

  “Don’t lock with
me,” she warned. “We haven’t time. Someone would discover us.”

  Nodding against her shoulder, he ground his teeth and willed his cock not to swell inside her, offering instead a human fuck, one made only slightly less pleasurable than the Wolfen version because it was Gabriella’s cunt he filled.

  How long had he dreamed of this? How much longer would he have to wait to know this pleasure again? But he didn’t want to think about leaving her, didn’t want to dwell on the demon who’d captured her. Later, he’d exorcise his inner demons—take a few heads as he left—maybe even the Master, who held her bound to him now.

  Gabriella was close, her mouth opening as her breaths rasped harshly, her head falling back against the wall.

  Guntram watched pleasure flood her features with rosy heat, savored the sight of her plump lips as they rounded. How lovely this view was, up close, skin to skin. If this was all he’d ever have, it would be enough.

  At last the strong, deep strokes sparked a fiery orgasm that had them both grinding hard against each other, holding each other tightly, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, his around her lower back. His balls exploded, and he muffled his shout against her skin, as did she hers, pressing kisses against his neck and cheek until he turned and met her lips.

  This time their mouths were gentle as they tasted each other’s passion, gliding softly as they stared into each other’s eyes.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” he said gruffly, when he’d mastered his breaths. “Someday, I will want the words.”

  Gabriella’s lips firmed, but her eyes remained moist.

  It was enough for now that he’d poked a little hole in the steely armor surrounding her heart. He’d thought he would be content to have her in his bed, to know her loyalty would be his, but now he knew he wouldn’t settle for anything less than all of her—body, soul, and heart.

  Marduk ground his jaw tight as his hands gripped Irkalla’s hips hard, forcing her up and down his cock. Once he’d figured out she intended to draw out their lovemaking in order to keep his attention from Gabriella, he’d decided he’d had enough. He’d give her the requisite orgasm, on his terms and at his pace, and then politely excuse himself.